The Car Is Dead! Long Live The Car!
We have loved our Camry. It was on loan to us for free the first year we had it (thanks Schulzes), and we then bought it from them. We have discovered California in it: Yosemite, Redwoods, Lassen, the Lost Wilderness and more. We took a 3000 mile road trip through the Colorado Plateau in it. We have shuttled friends and family around in it. We watched the odometer tick over at 200,000 miles, and again at 222,222. We brought our two children home in it.
But it was getting long in the tooth (dripping oil, poor suspension, door handle coming off IN MY HAND while opening it), and so we had begun looking around at what we might replace it with. We were debating whether going with something we could afford now, or whether we should finance and 'upgrade' a little. We were debating what we might like: the cross-over SUV's looked most appealing (Toyota Highlander and the Volvo XC90 being top of the list), or whether we should go functional and commit to the people-carrying minivan. The latter seemed the wiser move, but the problem was that we really just didn't WANT to be minivan people. For some reason, it seemed like a commitment to Suburbia that we still hope we are too young, too cool, too outdoorsy for. So we debated.
But the debating got expedited when, on Saturday, with little warning and no ceremony at all - our Camry died. Outside IKEA. So we stood in the pouring rain, with two small, tired, hungry kids and a mother-in-law and LOTS of purchases... and arranged for rescue from a friend and a tow-truck. Verdict on the car: Cause of death unknown. Autopsy awaited from the mechanic.
On Saturday night we searched and searched and searched for more cars. We scoured the local community listings, looked at local dealerships. And at some point in the evening, Jeremy noticed a car on eBay motors which was also listed on Craigslist - except the bidding on eBay was $1500 less than the listing; so I flippantly called out "why not make a bid on it?" And he clicked.
And an hour later we thought in horror: WHAT HAVE WE DONE!?!?!?! I didn't even know you could buy a car on eBay. I mean seriously - WHO buys a car in an online auction? A car you've never seen. A seller you haven't met. And what's more - even if you do buy online - you wait until the bidding CLOSES to make your bid: you don't just dump an offer in there with days to go! (Thanks, MCP, for the lessons in sniper bidding. Pity we didn't heed your advice). And worst of all - having made this foolish bid, we now needed to wait until we were outbid or the bidding closed before we could look at any other cars because we were now contractually committed to that bid.
Yikes. So we checked every few hours. And we were still the winning bid. The next morning, we were still the winning bid. And later that night... we watched 2 hours before, 1 hour before, 30 minutes before, and finally 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds before our screen flashed "congratulations! you have won the bid!" We sat in our rocking chairs, on a Sunday night, and watched our computer screen. THAT is how we bought this car.
So Monday morning had a flurry of activity: contacting the seller, getting insurance, drawing money, making travel arrangements. And last night we drove to Napa county and picked up our new car. It's a Honda Odyssey: the humble minivan. And so far, it looks great!
So the car is dead. Long live the car. I think God mercifully intervened through our foolishness and has actually not only provided us with a car, but saved us from a week of horrid deliberation and decision-making. Thanks, God. We really are thankful.
But it was getting long in the tooth (dripping oil, poor suspension, door handle coming off IN MY HAND while opening it), and so we had begun looking around at what we might replace it with. We were debating whether going with something we could afford now, or whether we should finance and 'upgrade' a little. We were debating what we might like: the cross-over SUV's looked most appealing (Toyota Highlander and the Volvo XC90 being top of the list), or whether we should go functional and commit to the people-carrying minivan. The latter seemed the wiser move, but the problem was that we really just didn't WANT to be minivan people. For some reason, it seemed like a commitment to Suburbia that we still hope we are too young, too cool, too outdoorsy for. So we debated.
But the debating got expedited when, on Saturday, with little warning and no ceremony at all - our Camry died. Outside IKEA. So we stood in the pouring rain, with two small, tired, hungry kids and a mother-in-law and LOTS of purchases... and arranged for rescue from a friend and a tow-truck. Verdict on the car: Cause of death unknown. Autopsy awaited from the mechanic.
On Saturday night we searched and searched and searched for more cars. We scoured the local community listings, looked at local dealerships. And at some point in the evening, Jeremy noticed a car on eBay motors which was also listed on Craigslist - except the bidding on eBay was $1500 less than the listing; so I flippantly called out "why not make a bid on it?" And he clicked.
And an hour later we thought in horror: WHAT HAVE WE DONE!?!?!?! I didn't even know you could buy a car on eBay. I mean seriously - WHO buys a car in an online auction? A car you've never seen. A seller you haven't met. And what's more - even if you do buy online - you wait until the bidding CLOSES to make your bid: you don't just dump an offer in there with days to go! (Thanks, MCP, for the lessons in sniper bidding. Pity we didn't heed your advice). And worst of all - having made this foolish bid, we now needed to wait until we were outbid or the bidding closed before we could look at any other cars because we were now contractually committed to that bid.
Yikes. So we checked every few hours. And we were still the winning bid. The next morning, we were still the winning bid. And later that night... we watched 2 hours before, 1 hour before, 30 minutes before, and finally 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds before our screen flashed "congratulations! you have won the bid!" We sat in our rocking chairs, on a Sunday night, and watched our computer screen. THAT is how we bought this car.
So Monday morning had a flurry of activity: contacting the seller, getting insurance, drawing money, making travel arrangements. And last night we drove to Napa county and picked up our new car. It's a Honda Odyssey: the humble minivan. And so far, it looks great!So the car is dead. Long live the car. I think God mercifully intervened through our foolishness and has actually not only provided us with a car, but saved us from a week of horrid deliberation and decision-making. Thanks, God. We really are thankful.
posted by Bronwyn at 8:38 am
2 Comments:
Oh, Bronwyn. This is HILARIOUS. I am so happy you went with a minivan, the piece of humble pie that it is. I have heard nothing but raves from people who have similarly humbled themselves.
You are officially a suburban family! =)
I don't know the year of your car, but from what I have heard, most love their Honda Odyssey. You now will be on the list of many folks who would love to borrow your car for a move. =)
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